Simon Pagenaud holds off Graham Rahal after trading paint at Barber
Simon Pagenaud got his second consecutive IndyCar Series win at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on Sunday after a late-race battle with Graham Rahal.
Pagenaud had dominated most of the 90-lap race, which was ran caution-free, but struggled with lapped traffic in the later stages. In the closing laps, Graham Rahal made an attempt to pass Pagenaud. The two made contact and the Team Penske driver went off course, but rejoined close behind in second position.
However, now it was Rahal’s turn to deal with lapped traffic, and it didn’t end well for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver. Pagenaud used a lapped car as a pick, resulting in Rahal losing part of his front wing on the lapped machine’s gearbox.
This damage slowed Rahal down and he almost lost second place to Josef Newgarden, but the checkered flew just in time.
Juan Pablo Montoya also had an eventful race, finishing in fifth place after starting from last.
Unofficial race results:
1. Simon Pagenaud
2. Graham Rahal
3. Josef Newgarden
4. Will Power
5. Juan Pablo Montoya
6. James Hinchcliffe
7. Helio Castroneves
8. Tony Kanaan
9. Charlie Kimball
10. Scott Dixon
11. Ryan Hunter-Reay
12. Marco Andretti
13. Takuma Sato
14. Carlos Munoz
15. Alexander Rossi
16. Sebastien Bourdais
17. Mikhail Aleshin
18. Luca Filippi
19. Jack Hawksworth
20. Conor Daly
21. Max Chilton
